A Brief History On July 8, 2003, the onetime girlfriend of Elvis Presley, Linda Thompson, sold a genuine Elvis Presley tooth that she had been keeping for a staggering $100,000 on eBay. To be fair, she included a lock of his hair and a gold record for good measure. Digging Deeper What is the weirdest thing sold or offered for sale on eBay? A human kidney? William Shatner’s kidney stone? Here are a few of the goofy items that have been offered: The burial crypt directly above that of Marilyn Monroe was offered on eBay for $500,000, and got an…
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A Brief History On July 5, 1994, Amazon, the internet mega-retailer, was founded by Jeff Bezos, his creation eventually making him the richest person in the world, worth $194.4 billion. Amazon provides an enormous inventory without the need for physical stores letting you shop at your desk. Digging Deeper The internet has brought incredible wealth to some people, placing them in the ranks of the wealthiest on the planet. Here are some of those folks that used the internet to their financial advantage: Elon Musk, net worth $180.7 billion, made a lot of his fortune with PayPal, an online money…
A Brief History On July 1, 1966, Canada had its first ever color television broadcast in Toronto, Ontario. Back when color TV hit the airwaves in the US, 1950 and 1951, no normal people had color TVs anyway. 1950s color TVs were horrible, with round screens that cut off a lot of the picture and garish colors like a bad cartoon. Digging Deeper TVs from the 1950s and early 1960s did not come with remotes, and they took forever to warm up, starting with a little dot of light in the middle that grew into a picture. Using CRTs and…
A Brief History On June 28, 1926, Mercedes-Benz, a company known for quality and luxury in automobiles, formed by merging companies founded by German engineers Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz. Digging Deeper Benz pioneered auto making, and his 1885 effort is considered the first practical production auto. Daimler followed with his car the next year. While Mercedes-Benz has a long history of fame for quality and reliability, in 2023, the firm’s cars came in a dismal 29th out of 30 car makers for reliability according to Consumer Reports. Fellow Teutonic car makers also did not lead the pack, with Mini…
A Brief History On June 3, 1844, the last known pair of Great Auks was killed on a small island off Iceland, a magnificent species of flightless bird resembling but not related to Penguins, 30 to 33 inches tall but with tiny six-inch wings. Digging Deeper Long a staple food and source of feathers and skins for Native American people, the soft down of the Great Auk made it a target for European hunters that decimated the populations of the aquatic birds. Changing climate and geography naturally eliminates some species of plants and animals, but humans have greatly accelerated the…